South Bay Farmers Hold Out Hope For March Miracle After Record Dry Start To 2022
GILROY (KPIX 5) – Rain at the end of 2021 was a big deal for everyone in Northern California, including farmers in the Santa Clara Valley. The beginning of 2022, however, hasn't been so kind.
Many farmers are hopeful that'll change, but are well aware there's a chance that might not happen.
At B&T Farms in Gilroy, Paul Mirassou's cherry trees are beginning to bloom.
"We'll harvest these in May," Mirassou told KPIX 5.
Between now and then, he's hopeful a few rounds of rain will wash away another year of serious drought concerns for him and for fellow farmers in the region.
"If it stays the way it is right now, then yeah, it'll be a drought year. We'll be conserving as much as we can. But we'll make it, we've done it before," he said.
Jeff Dougherty, the General Manager of Maier and Dougherty Pump and Supply, said some so-called "maintenance rain" would be incredibly beneficial in easing drought woes.
"Currently we're in the same boat now as we were last year. Last year got a little tight in the end," Dougherty said. "If we had a half an inch of rain per week. Maybe some storms along the way that are just a few inches."
According to Dougherty, getting 8 inches of rain all at once from one storm, such as an atmospheric river, is a helpful short-term solution for replenishing reservoirs, but not a long-term one for agriculture in the valley.
"Right now we have a couple of reservoirs that are local, that are more full than they have been in the last few years. But that doesn't mean a whole lot for us where we're standing here," he said. "Most of that water in the hills behind you, behind me, it'll find a dry creek and run off into the ocean eventually, and there's nowhere to catch it. Once it runs off and once it's absorbed and you don't get any more, it doesn't do anything for the water table. This is all dependent upon - 95% of it - is all groundwater."
What was a promising start to the rainy season has fallen short in 2022. After a record dry-spell in the Sierra, the latest snow survey shows the snowpack is well below normal for this time of year.
"We are looking for a miracle March. That's what we want," said Erin Gil, the president of the Santa Clara County Farm Bureau. "We're praying and doing our little rain dance so we can have a miracle March and April. If we can go ahead and achieve something we had in November or December of the previous year, I think we'll be better off."
In Gil's perspective, banking on precipitation and water conservation is only a part of the solution.
"I think you have to have more storage. If you have less snow and more rain, you've got to capture that rain somehow. You can't just let it flow through the watersheds and into the ocean," he said. "There needs to be a better handle on a holistic approach to managing water for both urban, rural, and environmental issues."
Like Gil, Mirassou is hoping nature can deliver, before the drought digs deeper.
"If it is just this one year - one more year - we'll be fine. We'll get through it. But if it keeps going, then there will be more problems," Mirassou said. "We still have the rest of March, so we'll see what happens."
